Senior executives join judges in fight for better pay

The Senior Executives Association has allied itself with several judicial associations in its fight for raises for high-ranking civil servants. In March, the U.S. Judicial Conference, which serves as the policymaking body of the federal court system, voted to pursue a three-part plan for improving salaries in the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The plan includes a 9.6 percent "catch up" pay raise, a cost-of-living pay raise in 2002 and the appointment of a 90-day commission to consider and make pay recommendations to the President. According to a February report compiled by the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, Congress acknowledged the need for increased pay among top federal officials in 1999, when it voted to double the President's salary to $400,000 as part of the fiscal 2000 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill. The two groups asked SEA to join with them in pursuing the pay raise issue, because pay for both senior executives and judges is tied to the Executive Schedule, under which Cabinet officers, other political appointees and members of Congress are paid. "If we could get legislation passed that would revise the judiciary [pay scale], and make changes in the Executive Schedule, then the [Senior Executive Service] would be affected because the pay cap would be lifted," said Senior Executives Association General Counsel G. Jerry Shaw. Senior executives are paid on a separate scale from managers and employees, who are paid on the General Schedule scale. The SES pay scale has six levels. SESers also receive locality pay. The Executive Schedule is a five-tier scale that runs from Level V to Level I. Members of Congress are paid at Level II, $145,100 in 2001. Senior Executive Service base pay plus locality pay cannot rise above Level III of the Executive Schedule, which is $133,700. SES base pay alone is capped at Level IV ($125,700 in 2001). By law, Executive Schedule pay is supposed to rise each year at the same rate as pay for employees on the General Schedule, but Congress can vote each year to block Executive Schedule raises. Congress has voted to block the raises every year since 1993, except for 1998, 2000 and 2001. The lack of pay raises has caused many senior executives and federal judges to reach the upper limit of the salary scale. Currently, four of the six senior executive pay levels have reached the pay cap. "People won't take promotions because they don't want the added responsibility without any added compensation," said Shaw. SEA officials have long pressed the pay raise issue, lobbying Congress relentlessly for annual pay increases and a catch-up raise to make up for previous years. The organization is drafting legislation with Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., that would increase the pay cap in the Senior Executive Service base pay from Level IV to Level III.

According to Shaw, this legislation would provide some relief because the overall salary cap would increase 6 percent to 9 percent, assuming Congress approves a 2002 Executive Schedule cost-of-living adjustment. Still, until leadership is in place at the Office of Personnel Management, not much can be done, Shaw said.

"The biggest obstacle right now is we don't have anybody in the administration focused on this because we don't have a director of OPM," Shaw said.